TVLand Pulls ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ Episodes From Lineup, Guess Why

Amid continued controversy over the Confederate flag, corporations seem to be racing one another to pull down anything and everything associated with the Civil War symbol. The Dukes of Hazzard even had the image taken off merchandise of the iconic General Lee (which kept the name, for … reasons?), and now TVLand has upped the ante by pulling them Duke boys off their lineup altogether.

The New York Post confirmed that TVLand had pulled its current stock of Dukes reruns from the airwaves, though the network declined to name the car’s Confederate flag as the explicit reason. The move follows Warner Bros.’ decision to pull or alter merchandise bearing the image, as well as a host of similar bans, including Amazon, Wal-Mart, and even Apple’s ban on Civil War video games depicting the flag.

It’s easy enough to remove the symbol from Dukes merchandise, though one wonders what Warner Bros. might do with its catalog of Hazzard episodes, from which the image would be far more difficult to scrub. The Confederate flag has long existed as a reminder of slavery and the Civil War, though the controversy was of course brought to the forefront after the recent South Carolina shootings, in which killer Dylann Roof was seen to idolize the flag.

Will any and all networks refuse to show Dukes of Hazzard ever again over the General Lee’s imagery? What other consequences might arise from current focus on the flag?